The day had been exceedingly hot; but the passing shadows of cumuli which formed in the afternoon, occasionally afforded us a delightful relief. The sea breeze was strong, particularly towards evening; but the dense scrub and forest kept it from us during the day.
Oct. 18.--I stopped at the water-holes, to allow our cattle to recover. It was a lovely place. The country around us was very open, and agreeably diversified by small clusters of the raspberry-jam tree. Salicornia and Binoe's Trichinium indicated the neighbourhood of salt water; but the grass was good and mostly young. The creek was shaded by drooping tea-trees and the broad-leaved Terminalia, which also grew scattered over the flats. The water-hole on which we were encamped was about four feet deep, and contained a great number of guard-fish, which, in the morning, kept incessantly springing from the water. A small broad fish with sharp belly, and a long ray behind the dorsal fin, was also caught. It was highly amusing to watch the swarms of little finches, of doves, and Ptilotis, which came during the heat of the day to drink from our water hole. Grallina australis, Crows, Kites, Bronze-winged and Harlequin pigeons, (Peristera histrionica, GOULD), the Rose cockatoo (Cocatua Eos), the Betshiregah (Melopsittacus undulatus), and Trichoglossus versicolor, GOULD, were also visitors to the water-hole, or were seen on the plains. The day was oppressively hot; and neither the drooping tea-trees, nor our blankets, of which we had made a shade, afforded us much relief Clouds gathered, however, in the afternoon, and we had a few drops of rain in the course of the night and following morning. Charley and John had gone out on horseback to obtain some emus, with which the country seemed to abound; they returned, however, at night, without any emus, but brought in about twenty-two whistling and black ducks, one goose and several waders, which they had obtained at a lagoon which was several miles in length, and varied from 50 to 300 yards in breadth, covered with Nymphaeas, and fringed with a dense vegetation; it was surrounded by fine pasture. Never, as they described, had they seen so many ducks and geese together; when they rose, their numbers darkened the air, and their noise was deafening. They had observed a wooden post, cut with an iron tomahawk, rammed in the ground and propped with several large stones; which seemed to be the work either of white men or Malays.
Oct. 19.--We travelled about four miles north 30 degrees west, over plains and an open undulating box and raspberry jam tree country, to the lagoon which my companions had discovered. They had not exaggerated their account, neither of the beauty of the country, nor of the size of the lagoon, nor of the exuberance of animal life on it. It was indeed quite a novel spectacle to us to see such myriads of ducks and geese rise and fly up and down the lagoon, as we travelled along. Casuarinas, drooping tea-trees, the mangrove myrtle (Stravadium) and raspberry-jam trees, grew either on the flats, or formed open groves along the banks; and Polygonums covered the water's edge. When we came to the end of the lagoon, which was bounded on the left by a stony rise of flaggy Psammite, I observed a green belt of trees scarcely 300 yards to the northward; and on riding towards it, I found myself on the banks of a large fresh water river from 500 to 800 yards broad, with not very high banks, densely covered with salt water Hibiscus (Paritium), with a small rubiaceous tree (Pavetta?), which filled the air with the jasmine-like fragrance of its blossoms; with Flagellaria, water Pandanus, and a leguminous climber with bunches of large green blossoms (Mucuna?--D.C. Pr.). The water was slightly muddy, as if a fresh had come down the river; and the tide rose full three feet. It was the river Mr. Roper had seen two days before, and I named it after him, as I had promised to do. The country along its left bank was well-grassed and openly timbered with box; hills were on the opposite side. Its course was from north-west to south-east; but this seemed to be rather local. Natives seemed to be numerous; for their foot-path along the lagoon was well beaten; we passed several of their fisheries, and observed long fishtraps made of Flagellaria (rattan). All the cuts on various trees were made with an iron tomahawk. Natives, crows, and kites were always the indications of a good country. Charley, Brown, and John, who had been left at the lagoon to shoot waterfowl, returned with twenty ducks for luncheon, and went out again during the afternoon to procure more for dinner and breakfast. They succeeded in shooting thirty-one ducks and two geese; so that we had fifty-one ducks and two geese for the three meals; and they were all eaten, with the exception of a few bony remains, which some of the party carried to the next camp. If we had had a hundred ducks, they would have been eaten quite as readily, if such an extravagant feast had been permitted.
Oct. 20.--We travelled about ten miles N. 60 degrees W. up the river; and I was fortunate enough to determine my latitude by an observation of Alpheratz, which cloudy nights had prevented me from obtaining since the 15th October: it was 14 degrees 47 minutes; my longitude, according to reckoning, was 135 degrees 10 minutes. The river continued equally broad, with a fine open box-tree country on its right, whilst a range of hills with several bluff breaks extended along the left side, interrupted occasionally by some openings of small creeks, and, in one place, by the valley of a small river, which Brown saw joining it from the northward.
We followed a broad foot-path of the natives, which cut the angles of the river, and passed along several large lagoons at the foot of some low sandstone ridges, that occasionally approached the river, which was joined by some brushy creeks, one of which was of a considerable size. The box-trees were of stunted growth, but the raspberry-jam trees were still abundant and larger than usual. The grass was plentiful, but old and dry. The lagoons were covered with ducks, geese, and pelicans; and native companions were strutting about on the patches of fresh burnt grass. Brown pursued two emus, and caught one of them. Wallabies were numerous; two bustards, and even a crocodile were seen. A small lizard or newt was observed on the mud between high and low water marks. The green ant of the Lynd inhabited the shady trees of the brushy banks; and, in the forest, brick coloured and black ants were numerous and troublesome.
A strong easterly wind was blowing during the day, and no cumuli formed.
Camps of the natives were frequent, and fresh burnings and fresh mussel-shells showed that they had been lately at the lagoons. But, on the river, the camps were older and not so numerous, and no burnings had lately taken place.
Oct. 21.--After waiting a very long time for our horses, Charley came and brought the dismal tidings that three of the most vigorous of them were drowned, at the junction of the creek with the river. Although the banks of the Roper were steep and muddy, the large creek we had passed was scarcely two miles distant, and offered an easy approach to the water on a rocky bed. It remained, therefore, inexplicable to us how the accident could have happened.
This disastrous event staggered me, and for a moment I turned almost giddy; but there was no help. Unable to increase the load of my bullocks, I was obliged to leave that part of my botanical collection which had been carried by one of the horses. The fruit of many a day's work was consigned to the fire; and tears were in my eyes when I saw one of the most interesting results of my expedition vanish into smoke. Mr. Gilbert's small collection of plants, which I had carefully retained hitherto, shared the same fate. But they were of less value, as they were mostly in a bad state of preservation, from being too much crowded. My collection had the great advantage of being almost complete in blossoms, fruit, and seed, which I was enabled to ensure in consequence of the long duration of our expedition, and of the comparative uniformity of the Australian Flora.
I left the unfortunate place, and travelled about six miles up the river, which kept a W. N. W. course. Open box-flats were bounded by ridges two or three miles from the river. At the opposite side, ranges were seen with some rocky bluff hills. Charley shot a bustard.